Oak Thistle LLC Buys New Position in Vistra Corp. $VST

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 9,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,863,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VST. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Vistra in the first quarter worth about $633,000. Versor Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Vistra during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $593,000. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in Vistra by 276.8% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 822 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Vistra by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,083,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $362,166,000 after purchasing an additional 57,358 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of Vistra by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 17,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,040,000 after buying an additional 2,046 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on VST shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Vistra from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $238.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Vistra in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $217.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Vistra in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $256.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Melius started coverage on shares of Vistra in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $295.00 price target on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $232.40.

Vistra Trading Down 7.5%

NYSE:VST opened at $160.42 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $54.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.39. Vistra Corp. has a 1 year low of $90.51 and a 1 year high of $219.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.74, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $190.10.

Vistra (NYSE:VST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.78 by ($0.03). Vistra had a return on equity of 64.04% and a net margin of 6.70%.The company had revenue of $4.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.60 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vistra Corp. will post 7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vistra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.227 per share. This represents a $0.91 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. This is a positive change from Vistra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. Vistra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.49%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James A. Burke sold 41,426 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.32, for a total value of $8,339,882.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 246,522 shares in the company, valued at $49,629,809.04. This represents a 14.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Carrie Lee Kirby sold 58,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $174.75, for a total transaction of $10,183,556.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 218,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,137,265.25. The trade was a 21.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 721,103 shares of company stock valued at $141,444,518 in the last ninety days. 1.42% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Vistra

Vistra Corp., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The company operates through six segments: Retail, Texas, East, West, Sunset, and Asset Closure. It retails electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across states in the United States and the District of Columbia.